World Financial Center, New York, NY
January 20 & 21, 2007

 If nothing else, watching over twodozen musicians deliver complete readings of both Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty at New York’s World Financial Center sure gives new meaning to the oft-uttered phrase “Deadheads on Wall Street.” Part of the biannual New York Guitar Festival, the American Beauty Project, as it was billed to civilians, found a dream team of performers running through the Dead’s classic 1970 studio albums in sequential order. And, though the all-star ensemble largely shied away from the Dead’s trademark jams, the cast didn’t necessarily stick to their script either, exploring the range of styles the Dead’s music encompasses.

Railroad Earth stuffed a bit of the traditional “Casey Jones” into the Dead’s variation on the tune, while Ollabelle offered a version of “Uncle John’s Band” more suited for the rocking American Beauty than its laidback Workingman’s Dead counterpart. While no one from the Grateful Dead showed up, almost everyone played six degrees of Garcia, whether it was recent Phil Lesh friend Larry Campbell, post-Garcia Dead keyboardist Rob Barraco, or Robert Hunter collaborator Jim Lauderdale (who, somehow, managed to flub the lyrics to “Sugar Magnolia”). Fellow San Francisco icon Jorma Kaukonen also dialed in a lovely version of Pigpen’s “Operator” with the aid of his Hot Tuna collaborator Barry Mitterhoff.

In the left-field department, Dar Williams and Dan Zanes led a South American combo through “Ripple,” while psychedelic-folkies Espers offered an extremely twisted version of “Till The Morning Comes” (perhaps the evening’s most exciting experiment).  Indeed, the weekend’s best offerings were also its strangest, ranging from Catherine Russell’s slightly gospel reading of “New Speedway Boogie” to Toshi Reagon’s boogie variation of “Box of Rain” to Jay Farrar’s decidedly alt-country take on “Candyman” (before his appearance the Son Volt leader cited both the Dead and the Sex Pistols as early influences).   

In the end, like many free Manhattan events, the American Beauty Project proved as much about New York’s eclecticism as it did the Dead’s music. Such excursions were mostly billed as “interludes,” allowing downtown New York stalwarts like the Klezmatics and Sex Mob to venture past the Dead’s 1970 work. If the Dead’s music must arrive on Wall Street, at least it’s not square.  

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